Britain's undisputed world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is poised to be stripped of his World Boxing Association (WBA) title.
A seven-man WBA panel hearing in Philadelphia - which Lewis attended - heard controversial American promoter Don King say the Briton had violated an agreement to fight the mandatory WBA challenger after beating Evander Holyfield for the title in November.
The Lewis camp countered, saying that deal was in place for the first fight, but not the second.
But after the sitting one of the seven members of the WBA voting panel, York van Nixon, painted a bleak picture for the Briton.
He said: "It looks bad for Lewis. We haven't made a final decision but in talking with my colleagues they wonder why they (the Lewis camp) didn't come to us first.
"That seems to be the fly in the ointment, they ignored the fact that we're the commissioning body. Right now that's been the big question mark."
The WBA will announce their decision in the next two weeks, but van Nixon concluded: "Right now it doesn't look good. It's about the rules."
Meanwhile, Panos Eliades - Lewis' promoter - said his fighter will never again compete for a WBA crown again if stripped of the title.
He said: "Obviously we won't be fighting for the WBA ever again. There will be an almighty publicity campaign in America and the WBA will be brought into disrepute."
Attorneys for Lewis had earlier told the WBA that King should be dumped for the good of the sport.
Lewis' lawyer Pat English said: "The point we're hitting is that ranking organizations can't be manipulated by Don King anymore.
"Lennox doesn't want to give up the WBA title. He also doesn't want the sport humiliated.
"Boxing is a troubled sport. It seems bent on self-destruction. Every time a step is taken to benefit boxing, a step is made to tear it down. The question is, 'Will you tear down something good for boxing'?"
Lewis will fight unbeaten American Michael Grant next month in New York having beaten Evander Holyfield to unify the crown last November.
The deal was made in part because the WBA's mandatory fighter until two weeks ago was Britain's Henry Akinwande, a King-backed fighter who medical tests have shown was unable to compete due to incurable liver damage.
Lewis had vowed he would not fight Akinwande, who hugged Lewis for most of five rounds before being disqualified in a 1997 title fight.
"It could not be done because nobody in the world would want to see it. It would be a complete laughing stock throughout the world," said English.
"The mandatory in the WBA has been shifting, a moving target so to speak. We negotiated in good faith with the best young heavyweight out there while the WBA was playing musical chairs with number one."
The hearing broke for lunch with later testimony scheduled by King and attorneys for Holyfield and new WBA top-rated American challenger John Ruiz. That fight, tentatively set for May, could be for the WBA crown.
"I am the best fighter out there. I will give him more trouble than Grant will," said Ruiz.
"I'm the top contender. For that reason alone he (Lewis) should be stripped of the title and let me go for it."
English said Lewis has offered to fight Ruiz in July as the WBA mandatory, but doubted the fighter would accept because King wanted to ensure himself a return to a stake of the lucrative heavyweight crown.
"Lennox is not trying to insult you. You know that. Don't fall for that," English pleaded to the WBA panel. "That's hot air. Please don't allow conflicting interests to sway your decision.
"Lennox Lewis is trying to do the right thing. He's trying to find his way through the thicket, a thicket in no small way planted to get him to surrender the WBA title. He's trying to honour you."
Grant's advisor Craig Hamilton said he was "somewhat embarrassed" for the WBA and that "the question at hand defies logic for just about everybody in this room".
He added: "Unfortunately, what's best for boxing fans is not what hearings like this are all about. They're about maintenance of...an unfair arbitrary system that rewards promoters over fighters."
Hamilton wondered how Ruiz pushed past two more King-backed boxers to become the WBA's top contender - while unbeaten Grant is rated behind all of them.
He said: "The public has decided that Lewis and Grant is the fight they want to see no matter what the WBA says."
King displayed a letter saying Lewis would fight Akinwande for the WBA crown if he beat Holyfield on March 13 - but that fight ended in a draw and no such language was in the rematch contract.
"The champion has the right to rely on proper rankings," said English. "The goal is to fight a proper contender, not some bum. You have to fairly and equally apply the rules."
English accused King of keeping Akinwande's status hidden until Lewis was forced to make another fight, saying that legal discovery challenges brought proof of Akinwande's inability to fight only last week.
"What was Lennox Lewis to do? Lennox Lewis has a responsibility to continue for the good of boxing," said English.
"We can only operate on what we thought and knew at the time. We're not so good that we could see that happening. We can't see into the future.
"Was Lennox Lewis to put the flagship division of boxing on hold until we pried this information out? No."
AFP
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